James Hyde

James Hyde

James Hyde, born 1958 in Philadelphia, USA, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

From the first glance, James Hyde's paintings look like art. This may even be a radical position for an artist today to take--ever since Marcel Duchamp signed a urinal and exhibited it as an artwork, avant-garde practice has involved crossing over into the realm of non-art, intentionally shrugging off high art's conventions. Some of Hyde's materials nod to this position (he often uses Styrofoam, silk, industrial carpet and vinyl tape) and sometimes a work is not attached vertically to a wall. But the work comes together according to an aesthetic logic, a part-whole relationship that exists in things that are made with intentionality. As art, and unlike nature, Hyde's works direct your attention. He makes them to refer to the history of painting.Hyde, on the other hand, has employed an approach within painting that achieves the transcendent potential of fiction without risking the narrowing effects of narration. In his work he has broken with modernist abstraction's illusionistic picture--even if there is space in one of his paintings one is always prevented entry into it by one's awareness of the physical object. The surface of a fresco painting, layered strokes of paint over a background wash, is linked to its projecting Styrofoam base. You want to see the surface as an illusion, but cannot deny its limitations because of the clear presence of its underpinnings. Hyde also encourages references to useful objects and everyday situations--handles, shelves and guard rails can be seen in past works. Minimalists favored industrial materials like steel, aluminum and plastics and used them hermetically, which prevented them from touching everyday experience. Hyde makes art that seems thoroughly vernacular; the materials furnish accesses for the viewer, meeting her halfway, and perhaps invoking in her the desire to believe in the work, or to be transported by it.

He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship in 2000 and the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008. Hyde is presently Faculty Critic at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and at The Cooper Union for Advancement of Science and Art.